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Phase I of Alpha Two testing will occur on weekends. Each weekend is scheduled to start on Fridays at 10 AM PT and end on Sundays at 10 PM PT. Find out more here.
Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest Alpha Two news and update notes.
Our quickest Alpha Two updates are in Discord. Testers with Alpha Two access can chat in Alpha Two channels by connecting your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
Possible solution for Open World Dungeons
Honestly, I haven't heard much of a plan when it comes to Open World Dungeons! My thought was that after a party engages the boss, walls come up (like in TERA) preventing people from getting in or escaping. If I.S wants everyone to be able to fight the boss mob, no matter if the engaging party has gotten it down to 99% and someone could be able to kill it off, then they should make a "damage/reward" system.
Meaning, if you did 1% damage to the mob, you receive barely anything. BUT... this still may not work... what if an entire party arrives to kill the boss mob only after your party has just engaged it? Well, in that case, I.S should make the party system able to have a "strict-engagement" rule... (I made that up...) but the idea is that the boss mob can only recognize one party at a time. So, if your party engages the boss, the boss will only engage your party. If another party tries to aggro or damage the boss, the boss will be immune to their damage and effect and all they will see is a pop-up saying, "This creature is currently engaged!"
Now... for secret dungeons and secret chests and small mob bases/camps that can be cleared by other players regardless of your team... I don't know.
Maybe it could be like this: Each part of the dungeon, the small mobs camps, the secret rooms, even the boss mob lair should be completely empty. The idea is that one person has to arrive to the area, stand there for a certain length of time and then the area will spawn the creatures, traps, chests, monsters, etc instantly. BUT, since this is Open World, a person will have to fight another person that wants to spawn the area. This would essentially be a "King of the Hill" type of small battle.
HEAR ME OUT!
While all it takes is 1 person to initiate the capture of an area, dungeons will typically be explored in parties. So, if you're alone, then duh... get a party or avoid confrontation. (This gives players the ability to enter a dungeon without a party, but, obviously, it'll be impossible to clear camps and kill the boss mob alone.) ((That single player would be able to form a party with any other person.. eg: incomplete party of 7 or just two players that he/she found)) (((A single player's exploration would be done mainly to get to secret rooms or rooms that don't require any fighting of mobs. i.e puzzle rooms)))
Now, for the areas that can be contested... If the opposing party thinks that it'll be too hazardous, they won't try to fight for the space/area, but if they feel strong enough, then be prepared! The time requirement for the area to spawn would be about 10-15 seconds. If any person not in the party enters into the radius of the area, the timer will pause until only one party or person remains (parties are counted 1 entity, so only one member of the party needs to be present in the radius of the area to affect the timer) The timer will get progressively faster to prevent a much longer stalemate than need be. Abuse of this system would be prevented in that if one person from an opposing party or single person steps in to stop the capture of the area, they'd get blasted apart by the team currently occupying the area. These would generally be party vs party battles or not at all.
Just an idea...
Meaning, if you did 1% damage to the mob, you receive barely anything. BUT... this still may not work... what if an entire party arrives to kill the boss mob only after your party has just engaged it? Well, in that case, I.S should make the party system able to have a "strict-engagement" rule... (I made that up...) but the idea is that the boss mob can only recognize one party at a time. So, if your party engages the boss, the boss will only engage your party. If another party tries to aggro or damage the boss, the boss will be immune to their damage and effect and all they will see is a pop-up saying, "This creature is currently engaged!"
Now... for secret dungeons and secret chests and small mob bases/camps that can be cleared by other players regardless of your team... I don't know.
Maybe it could be like this: Each part of the dungeon, the small mobs camps, the secret rooms, even the boss mob lair should be completely empty. The idea is that one person has to arrive to the area, stand there for a certain length of time and then the area will spawn the creatures, traps, chests, monsters, etc instantly. BUT, since this is Open World, a person will have to fight another person that wants to spawn the area. This would essentially be a "King of the Hill" type of small battle.
HEAR ME OUT!
While all it takes is 1 person to initiate the capture of an area, dungeons will typically be explored in parties. So, if you're alone, then duh... get a party or avoid confrontation. (This gives players the ability to enter a dungeon without a party, but, obviously, it'll be impossible to clear camps and kill the boss mob alone.) ((That single player would be able to form a party with any other person.. eg: incomplete party of 7 or just two players that he/she found)) (((A single player's exploration would be done mainly to get to secret rooms or rooms that don't require any fighting of mobs. i.e puzzle rooms)))
Now, for the areas that can be contested... If the opposing party thinks that it'll be too hazardous, they won't try to fight for the space/area, but if they feel strong enough, then be prepared! The time requirement for the area to spawn would be about 10-15 seconds. If any person not in the party enters into the radius of the area, the timer will pause until only one party or person remains (parties are counted 1 entity, so only one member of the party needs to be present in the radius of the area to affect the timer) The timer will get progressively faster to prevent a much longer stalemate than need be. Abuse of this system would be prevented in that if one person from an opposing party or single person steps in to stop the capture of the area, they'd get blasted apart by the team currently occupying the area. These would generally be party vs party battles or not at all.
Just an idea...
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Comments
Bosses won't be soloed, but still, if there is headroom for complaining, people will complain. So best to not leave healers excluded out of the equation.
Damage calculation based on party/raid would be best. I wouldn't even say Guild based, as there can also be random groups of people that get together to attempt a boss.
It may end up that they go with first come first serve mentality over an overall damage mechanic. Bosses in SWTOR had timed/placement mechanics that if screwed up would cause wipes. One of the favorite "fuck with the competing group" tactics was to use someone with a taunt to pull the boss out of position or screw up the rotation from outside the group to cause wipes. Making it so once a certain threshold of damage is reached the boss becomes non-interactable to others outside those "tagged" may be another fix. Since we know that people on the team plan to go incognito and play during testing, having them witness the rage when people are able to screw with people "just cause I can" will end up with a system that we all can live with hopefully.
They should be able to apportion rewards accordingly.
Unlikely to be based on first hit or first group.
And, we need to be getting xp for more than just damage. We should also be getting xp for disabling traps and opening arcane locks, etc.
NO to damage calculations, NO to walls, NO to damage immunity.
These are all "PvE" ways of trying to "close" the OPEN world dungeons.
Solution to open world dungeons is in PvP. Pure and simple.
You want that boss, and you don't want other party to get the loot? Attack the other party, while engaging the boss. Kill them all and you have boss for yourself.
Just make open world dungeons areas auto flag you for PvP (like sieges) and corruption will not ruin the experience.
That's it, that's all.
Yes, yes. I know many of you would want pure PvE experience EVERYWHERE. But for pure PvE experience there will be INSTANCED DUNGEONS available.
Let PvP experience exist somewhere as well? Pretty please with sugar on top?
That would decrease the amount of mass zergs happening as it takes alot of time and effort to get to the boss again after getting killed.
+ challenging environment is fun
No mob camping in Ashes.
Especially since Ashes is a dynamic world.